Trulia’s Map to Avoid Bad Commutes

Although most of us with smartphones have some sort of app that allows us to view current traffic flow, it doesn’t always help us avoid bad work commutes. Trulia has recently unveiled new maps that help users visualize their commute time over geographic areas—a great tool for tourists, visitors, and others new to a locality. MarketMAPS takes a detailed look at Trulia’s commute maps.

Trulia, a San Francisco company that has tracked housing prices (and crime rates, and schools, and amenities) for its users for years, is launching an application that will let you know what your daily commute will be. Trulia uses lots of data from street maps, and traffic feeds, to take a specific point and then lets you move sliders across a map to other points (your potential houses or apartments) to calculate the amount of time you would have to drive from point A to point B. There’s also a way to calculate how long public transit would take to get through the same distance. The driving data comes from Open Street Maps; the public transit data from local government transit agencies.

According to the company, the new commute-style maps would be overlays, in much the same way you can overlay crime statistics to your neighborhood, or other stats onto areas where you’re thinking of living. Pretty soon, you’ll be able to lay down several “maps” worth of data to pick and choose your way through several categories, helping you choose new houses and neighborhoods.

Trulia’s commute maps may use advanced technology, but some users have taken issue with the accuracy of their data. While public transit information is easily accessible, it isn’t known for its precision. At MarketMAPS, we receive our transportation data from the top providers. Street and road networks appear clearly and accurately on our maps and our clients can even define their map coverage area by drive-time and distance radius. Our traffic counts data is among the most accurate and provides users with topographical markers that indicate the average amount of traffic flow on a street. With our detailed maps and precise data, MarketMAPS’s products help both businesses and consumers. Our maps can assist you in navigation, route planning, and much more.